Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin, which suffered a $320 million Bitcoin (BTC) loss in a May 2024 hack, has finalized an agreement to transfer its customer accounts and assets to SBI VC Trade.
The transfer is scheduled for March 8, 2025, with SBI automatically creating accounts for DMM’s customers, eliminating the need for them to register anew.The May security breach involved unauthorized access to DMM’s servers, resulting in the theft of private keys associated with wallets holding over 4,500 BTC.
Subsequent investigations by the FBI, the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center, and Japan’s National Police Agency attributed the attack to the North Korea-linked group TraderTraitor. The hackers reportedly used social engineering tactics, including posing as recruiters on LinkedIn, to compromise an employee at Japanese crypto wallet firm Ginco, ultimately facilitating the theft.
In the aftermath of the hack, DMM Bitcoin pledged to fully compensate affected users but found it unsustainable to continue operations independently. Consequently, the exchange decided to liquidate and transfer its customers to SBI VC Trade. SBI plans to introduce 14 new spot trading pairs by March 2025, expanding its offerings to include cryptocurrencies such as Tron (TRX), The Sandbox (SAND), Algorand (ALGO), and Maker (MKR). However, SBI does not intend to continue DMM’s leverage trading services.
This incident is part of a broader trend in 2024, where losses from attacks on centralized crypto services have more than doubled compared to the previous year, reaching $694 million. Notably, the DMM Bitcoin hack and a $235 million breach of the India-based crypto exchange WazirX are among the most significant examples.
The transition of DMM Bitcoin’s customers to SBI VC Trade aims to provide a more secure environment for users, reflecting the industry’s ongoing efforts to enhance security measures in response to increasing cyber threats.
